Course Description:

Our Recreational Avalanche Safety course includes three classroom lectures and one full day of field work, stressing safe backcountry travel techniques, terrain, and snow pack observation and testing, and the effective use of new generation avalanche transceivers.
*This Course curriculum exceeds minimum curriculum requirements for CAA Recreational Avalanche Course (RAC) guidelines and also exceeds curriculum guidelines as spelled out for courses by the American Avalanche Association (US Level I).
 
If you have taken our Recreational course in the last 12 months and are interested in getting Level I or Level II Certification we recomend attending 1 or more additional field days focusing on safe travel, route finding, snow pack observations and advanced rescue and transceiver skills.

2007-2008 Course Dates:   (season ended)    

* Custom Dates Available

Recreational Avalanche Safety Course:
Course Fees:    $185.00

Seattle REI          
Lectures:  (Session #1) - Completed

(Lecture Starts 7:00pm )
Field Day: Choice of January 5th, 6th

Lectures:  (Session #2) - Jan 29th, Feb 5th, 12th

(Lecture Starts 6:15) 

Field Day: Choice of Feb 2nd, 3rd, Feb 9th, 10th

Redmond REI (Redmond Town Center)

(Lecture Starts 6:15pm )
Lectures:Jan 28th, Feb 4th, 11th
Field Day: Choice of Feb 2nd, 3rd, Feb 9th, 10th

Marmot Mountain Works
Lectures: Jan 8th, 15th, 22rd

(Lecture Starts 7:00pm )
Field Day: Choice of Jan 12th, 19th, 20th

Tacoma Backpacker Supply (cancelled)
Lectures: Jan 7th, 14th, 21st

(Lecture Starts 6:45pm )
Field Day: Choice of Jan 19th, 20th

Level 1 Field Days:  optional, but required to complete Level I Certification
Cost: $110.00 Each

To Register, please call the Vertical World at (206) 283-4497 (Seattle), 425-881-8826 (Redmond), or contact Marmot Mountain Works at 425-453-1515

Check in: Check in occurs 15 minutes prior to the beginning of the first lecture period. 

Preparation, Expectations and Goals, and Prerequisites:
1. The Avalanche Awareness course includes three classroom sessions and one full day in the field. The classroom sessions are the same for RAC/Level I. Field session assignments will be made on a first-come, first-served basis at the time of registration and will be confirmed at the lectures.  You are responsible for your own transportation.

2. Single frequency (457 kHz) avalanche transceivers are required for field trip participation. It is recommended that you purchase a transceiver, however transceivers from BCA and Ortovox are available for rent. Availability is limited so let us know early if you plan to rent a transceiver from us.  The following equipment will be acceptable for the field session: backcountry or telemarking skis with skins; alpine touring skis with skins and some form of binding allowing heel lift for climbing; split snowboards and skins; or suitable snowshoes and ski poles. For your convenience and safety, here is a recommended list of equipment: safety straps, warm boots and socks, gaiters, poles, snow shovel, repair tape, spare bales and/or binding parts, flashlight, sunglasses and goggles, pocketknife, lighter/matches(waterproof), first-aid kit, toilet paper, poly bottle or thermos, bag lunch, chapstick and sunscreen(SPF 30), long underwear shirt and pants, turtleneck, wool/pile sweater or jacket, raincoat, pile or fleece pants, wind or rain pants, warm hat, gloves or mittens, and a garbage bag to keep things dry in your pack. Because you will be analyzing your own snow pit you should obtain a shovel. Probes are recommended. Additional snow profile equipment will be made available to students, however it would be in your interest to obtain the following equipment:

    * Snow profile card
    * 8X magnifying loupe
    * inclinometer (slope-angle meter).

3. You must be capable of negotiating slope angles of 20/30 degrees safely. For skiers, minimum skiing ability would require that you can effect some method of turning (including the kick-turn) in most any snow conditions and that you can stop and control your speed when necessary. Otherwise, use snowshoes. Field trip locations are generally of intermediate difficulty.
4. Goals of this course: Students should understand trip planning methodology and safe travel techniques, be able to distinguish between safe and potentially hazardous terrain, understand the basics of snow stability analysis, be able to avoid obviously hazardous situations, and know how to perform individual and small group self-rescue.
 
At the conclusion of this course most students will be in a position to cautiously begin building for themselves their own base of experience for backcountry skiing and/or winter travel. Completion of the Avalanche Awareness Course and one extra field day completes Recreational / Level I.

5. Students will be provided with a copy of the text that has been written to accompany this course at the beginning of the first lecture. The book should be read concurrently with the lectures and allows coverage of lecture material at greater depth than would otherwise be possible in a course of this duration. We also strongly urge that you do some additional reading before the class. There are many books available to read about avalanches.

Course Curriculum:
Lecture 1 - Introductory presentation, key definitions and philosophy, Planning, traveling and decision making in avalanche terrain, Meteorology, key factors, some important local factors, The effects of weather on the snow pack, Types of avalanches, avalanche characteristics, and dangers

Lecture 2 – Verbal Quiz review, Terrain features, avalanche paths and nomenclature, Route finding to minimize risks, Formation, significance and distribution of important layers, Self rescue in the event of an avalanche, Case study – Decision-making

Lecture 3 - Important warning signs, stability testing, snow pack variability, Lecture conclusion, perspective, philosophy, making effective decisions, the human factors involved. Lecture concludes with a Final Exam covering; Gaining practice at decision-making, Solving route finding problems, terrain in a whole new light Case studies provide unusual but very important snow packs and an opportunity to learn from other's mistakes.

Field Day - The curriculum for the Recreational Avalanche Awareness Course stresses trip planning, safe travel techniques, observation of terrain and snow pack, and self-rescue using avalanche transceivers. Beginning with the current hazard forecast and snow pack history, you form an initial set of stability expectations. You will practice safe travel techniques and make many types of snow pack observations as you travel. Students will receive valuable instruction in recognizing safe and hazardous terrain, observing warning signs of instability, and performing a number of snow stability tests: penetration observations, pole tests, various shear tests, basic snow profile analysis (snow pit), rutschblock and compression tests and safe forms of ski testing. The teaching methodology emphasizes hands on learning. You will be extensively practicing these and other techniques. Transceiver drills help to give the student a clear picture of the function and limitations of new technology avalanche transceivers. Multiple burial rescue scenarios provide a glimpse of the pressures and difficulties of dealing with real-life situations. Terrain is evaluated as you travel; however, the emphasis in the field is on developing snow pack observation skills and transceiver searching skills. At the conclusion of this course most students will be in a position to cautiously begin building for themselves their own base of experience for backcountry skiing and/or winter travel, understand trip planning methodology and safe travel techniques, be able to distinguish between safe and potentially hazardous terrain, understand the basics of snow stability analysis, be able to avoid obviously hazardous situations, and know how to perform individual and small group self-rescue.  Many students will want to take the Optional, Advanced Field Day to complete Level I certification. This extra field day is much more terrain intensive.


INCLUDED IN THIS PROGRAM

GENERAL INFORMATION

Skill Level & Fitness Requirements:
Field trip locations are generally of intermediate difficulty. You must be capable of safely negotiating slope angles of 20/30 degrees. For skiers, minimum skiing ability would require that you can affect some method of turning (including the kick-turn) in most any snow conditions and that you can stop and control your speed when necessary. Otherwise, use snowshoes.

Students will be provided with a copy of the text that has been written to accompany this course at the beginning of the first lecture. The book should be read concurrently with the lectures and allows coverage of lecture material at greater depth than would otherwise be possible in a course of this duration. We also strongly urge that you do some additional reading before the class.
Suggested Reading & Video Presentations:
 Avalanche Safety for Skiers & Snowboarders  by Tony Daffern
 Snow Sense  by Fredston and Fessler
 Avalanche Awareness; A Question of Balance  Video Presentation
 Winning The Avalanche Game  Video Presentation

Weather:
The weather in the Pacific Northwest can and does change very fast. Please be prepared to spend a day in the mountains during winter conditions. Please contact us if you have any questions about this.
CLOTHING & EQUIPMENT LIST
Having the right equipment is critical for making the most of your Avalanche Awareness Course. It’s essential that you arrive equipped with all items on listed on the Required Clothing & Equipment Lists.
 
 
Clothing
[    ]  Warm boots - Light weight, well broken in boots or trail shoes
[    ]  Warm Socks - Extra pair, light weight socks synthetic, Avoid 100% cotton
[    ]  Gaiters - 1 or 2 pairs lightweight synthetic liners
[    ]  Long pants - 1 pair light weight synthetic, dry pants
[    ]  Waterproof Shell Jacket - Light weight, wind proof, water proof or resistant

[    ]  Waterproof Shell Pants - Light weight, wind proof, water proof or resistant
[    ]  Long Underwear - Synthetic, quick dry recommended
[    ]  Warm Gloves or Mittens                      
[    ]  Warm Hat                                
[    ]  Bandana or Turtle Neck      
    
Equipment List
[    ]  Avalanche Transceiver - Single Frequency (457KHz)
[    ]  Skies or Snowshoes - Backcountry or Telemarking Skies with skins, Alpine Touring Skies with skins and heel lifting bindings, split snowboards with skins, Snowshoes with Poles. *Remember Repair Equipment

[    ]  Snow Shovel and Probe          
[    ]  Daypack   Small pack (around 2000 cubic inches)
[    ]  Water bottles or Bladder 2 or 3 wide mouth 1 liter bottles or bladder system such as, camelbak or         platypus, or combination of both. Warm Thermos
[    ]  Sunglasses & Goggles - 2 pair with retention strap
[    ]  Sunscreen - small tubes of SPF 30+
[    ]  Lip balm/screen - small tube of SPF 25+
[    ]  Toilet paper - 1 roll in zip lock bag
[  ]  Personal First Aid Kit - Small kit including moleskin and band aids for  blisters, pain relief  medication, etc
[    ]  Flashlight or Headlamp - With extra batteries
 
Optional Items:
[    ]  Camera and Film - 35mm or digital, 1 to 2 rolls of film or 32-64MB flashcard, Extra batteries for camera      
[    ]  Extra Fleece Layer - Additional warm long sleeve garment
[    ]  Snow Profile Equipment - This will be provided but it’s to your advantage to already have it.
 
More About our Course Curriculum:
In the Avalanche Awareness avalanche course there are three basic components: a 500 image, 3-lecture Power Point series in which 70% of the images are photographic rather than text, a comprehensive and very informative 100 page course book written to accompany and complement the course, and a field day that stresses safe travel techniques, terrain, snowpack observation and testing, and the effective use of new generation avalanche transceivers.
 
To complete certification at RAC/Level I, students may take one of the Advanced Optional Field Days at any time they are scheduled. The purpose of the lectures is to give the student a foundation of general knowledge about avalanches, safe travel procedures, and skills to help one avoid them. Effective route finding slides show a wide variety terrain (much more than can be covered in one or even several field days). Gary Brill is a skilled outdoor photographer who has been published numerous times. The photographic slides are of high quality and very illustrative. Many use the power of imagery to emphasize, for instance, important meteorological points, significant snowpack layers; and especially, terrain and route finding. Their high quality helps students to stay focused during lectures. Challenging case studies point out (with no uncertainty) the complexity and variability of the mountain snowpack, and the necessity of maintaining perspective in applying good judgement when making decisions.
 
By design, the course text is written at a higher level of complexity than materials presented in the lectures, incorporating selected level II topics. Some relevant particulars of the Maritime snowpack will not even be found in any other published text (they are the subject of current research). The more advanced topics are effectively partitioned, most introduced through case studies. The duality of the text structure and its integration with the lectures allows classroom materials to be presented in such a way that beginners aren't overwhelmed; while at the same time, those Avalanche Awareness & RAC/Level I students who already have a reasonable base of avalanche knowledge can still be challenged.
 
The integration of text and lectures has several other benefits to students. It gives them the opportunity to easily review, at their leisure, information presented in the lectures for better understanding. Finally, for those at either end of the spectrum, the book can serve to refresh the memory; giving a more lasting benefit.  The basic Avalanche Awareness field trip is a very busy day. To allow sufficient time for study and practice, travel time is minimized.
 
In the basic course terrain is largely presented in the lectures. This is realistic because it is difficult to travel through a lot of terrain in a single field day. And it would be time prohibitive to do so in one day given that most students want significant instruction and practice in the use of transceivers and snowpack evaluation methods, topics that cannot be adequately presented in lectures.
 
Unlike most Level I courses, you will notice in our curriculum that multiple burial rescues are introduced. It is the instructor’s belief that it is important to introduce multiple burial rescue scenarios for two reasons; 1) that many recreationalists travel in a group so that more than one could be buried, and 2) that many people fail to adequately practice the difficult problems of multiple rescue, this class presenting perhaps the best opportunity to do so.
 
Students will pick up numerous tips to make their search techniques more effective. At the end of the day, we want students to know how to effectively use avalanche transceivers, but hope they will realize that more practice is necessary, especially in complex, multiple burials.  The remainder of the field day is utilized in observing the snowpack and in testing its stability in as many ways as are practical on the given day. This would include various methods of pole testing, shear and stability testing, including shovel testing, compression tests, and rutschblocks among others. Since travel is difficult with larger groups or with people of different abilities and equipment, and because it is impractical to cover much diverse terrain on such a busy day, it is easy to see why terrain is covered in the lecture and emphasized in the extra field days.